The illegal alien lobby has shot itself in the foot.
I’ve generally favored open immigration, but I find myself feeling less and less that way in the face of mass rallies by illegal immigrants like this one.
Illegal immigrants as individuals just trying to make a better life are sympathetic. Illegal immigrants as a mass movement making demands on the polity are considerably less so.
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Instapundit
Some people’s ideas of how to influence policy are still stuck in the 1960s. Others’ are still stuck in the 1930s. Neither approach is suited to the 21st century.
I just figured out what is going on here. Don’t be lulled into complacency by saying these rallies won’t influence legislation or public opinion.
They’re designed to provide the cohesive glue that binds their followers to the larger organization. They’re an emotional pathway that should lead the participants to feel “energized” and wanting another political “fix”. Which the organizers will provide in the next march, next mass meeting, next anything. That’s the strategy they’re following. It worked in the 1930s. It worked in the 1960s. They’re hoping that it will happen again today.
No doubt. But I don’t see the American people being any more open to their demands after the next event, or the one after that, than they are right now. Quite the opposite—as Instapundit suggests, more events like this will only alienate the rest of the public.
